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The hype had, most definitely, been there.

The rivalry between Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk and Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty was, once again, the topic of conversation in the days leading up to Tuesday’s game at Scotiabank Saddledome — the first instalment of the season.

Doughty scores OT winner as Kings beat Flames 4-3Back to video

“Well … we know who the better player is,” Doughty had said, smirking, a day earlier when asked about the ongoing back-and-forth.

This only seemed to throw gasoline on a fire that has been burning since Tkachuk’s rookie days in 2016-17 and added intrigue to an, otherwise, storyline-less game one week into the 2019-20 National Hockey League season.

But after Doughty’s overtime winner 50 seconds into the clash to win it 4-3 for the Kings — after Tkachuk tied the game 3-3 to force the extra frame — the outspoken former Norris Trophy winner put his hand to his ear, bringing on the home crowd’s boo birds.

Afterwards, he indicated that he wanted to bury the hatchet with Tkachuk.

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“I want to put that to rest,” Doughty said. “That’s over. As you can see, we both thrive under emotional games. I think he had three points, and I think I had three points. I just want to put that to rest. He’s going to run me —that’s his job.

“He’s going to hit me many times a game, and I’m not going to talk back and let it kind of be.”

Tkachuk’s goal was almost serendipitous, batting down a puck and managing to swat it past Kings netminder Jack Campbell with 1:04 remaining in the third period. That excitement faded quickly as, in the end, a terrible start to Tuesday’s game caught up to the entire team.

The Flames winger was a physical presence immediately, most of his game-leading seven hits directed at his sparring partner, Doughty.

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In the end, Doughty got the final word on the ice and, off the ice, his post-game comments had been relayed to Tkachuk. His response?

“I’m excited for Round 2 in a couple weeks in L.A.,” said Tkachuk referring to the team’s next meeting on Oct. 19 at Staples Center.

But let’s be clear, the real story was the fact that the Flames were extremely late arriving to the game — figuratively speaking, although the roads were brutal in Calgary after (another) fall snowstorm.

They were out-shot 20-3 and down 2-0 after the first 20 minutes which had them chasing the Kings and spinning out of control in their defensive zone.

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It is a cause for concern this early in the season as the Flames dropped to 1-1-1.

“It’s alarming and disappointing at the same time,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters. “We have to have better starts, for sure. Guys have to find a way, and we as a staff and myself as a head coach have to find a way to get guys ready to go from the drop of the puck.”

The Calgary club continued its lifeless play into the second period, too, producing a lame power play when Dustin Brown was off for tripping Johnny Gaudreau, and Ilya Kovalchuk scored at the 3:46 mark to give the Kings a 3-0 lead.

At that point, Milan Lucic showed up. He did his part, dropping the gloves with Kurtis MacDermid after a collision at centre ice.

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It wasn’t the only reason why the tide turned, but, again, it seemed to wake his team up.

Andrew Mangiapane, too, added some jump when he was promoted to the second line to start the middle frame, pushing the play immediately which nearly resulted in a Tkachuk goal after a hard drive to the net.

Tkachuk eventually scored, and the goal was a big one. He picked off a pass from Anze Kopitar and beat Campbell stick-side at 10:51 to put the Flames on the board.

Then, Noah Hanifin injected more life back into the Saddledome when he went end to end and whiffed a backhand on Campbell, which the goalie mis-handled.

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But back to the latest episode of “Days of Our Lives: Tkachuk-Doughty.”

Following Tuesday’s game, Doughty wanted to set the record straight.

“Honestly, (the media) made it better because you keep talking about this and making it bigger than it is,” Doughty said. “Maybe it really is a pretty big thing. You just go home and you turn on the TV before a pre-game nap and all I see is my face all over the TV, so I shut that off. You guys make a bigger deal than we do.

“(Tkachuk) is just trying to play a good game, and as much he doesn’t want to say it, he knows I’m a really good player and he’s trying to get me off my game. Really, he’s just feeding into my game.”

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The Tkachuk-Doughty show was a subplot, but a new layer was added with MacDermid at the end of the second period when he dog-piled on top of Tkachuk in front of Campbell’s net. It was Mangiapane who pulled him off of his teammate, exchanging words with the Kings’ law enforcer of the night.

And, true to form, the hate-hate relationship between Tkachuk and Doughty started just over a minute into Tuesday’s clash as Tkachuk laid him out at the Kings’ blueline as the play headed into the neutral zone.

It picked up with under eight minutes remaining when Tkachuk hit him again, resulting in a scrum after in which MacDermid face-washed Tkachuk and was dealt a roughing penalty.

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Not that the man-advantage helped their cause.

Instead, they allowed a short-handed chance by Adrian Kempe, who nearly slapped his rebound past Rittich (the Kings’ 13th shot on net). With 3:30 remaining, Kempe hit a post.

Elias Lindholm, Rasmus Andersson and Backlund recorded the Flames only shots on net in the first period. Shots, not goals.

The worst part about that statistic was the fact it took until 40 seconds remaining for the second and third shots to break through the Kings defence.

“That might have been the worst period of hockey we’ve ever played in this building,” Backlund had told Sportsnet 960 The Fan after the opening 20 minutes.

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He was not wrong.

The game was not even three minutes old before Tyler Toffoli had put the Kings up 1-0, a one-timer past David Rittich after Doughty had left the Flames scrambling as he cruised past Flames defenceman Oliver Kylington to send a shot on net.

Sean Walker made it 2-0 on a bad angle as Rittich failed to cover his left post.

Peters had preached to his group to stay out of the penalty box after taking too many penalties in their previous two games. And they did. Lucic (for fighting) and Sam Bennett (for tripping Doughty) were the only two offenders on this night.

But nothing can help the cause if you don’t show up on time. And the Flames were very late for this one.

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“It was almost like men against boys there,” Tkachuk said of the Flames’ start. “We were in their zone for a shot, maybe an attempt. We’d turn it over or just lose possession.

“They’d come back, get a couple shots, get a couple of o-zone shifts and they kept doing what we did in the second and the third, setting the next line for success by having short shifts and attacking the net.”

NOTES

Kovalchuk’s goal was reviewed by referees to determine whether or not the stick was underneath the crossbar. The call was upheld … Tuesday’s game was the first time the Flames have allowed more than 20 shots in the opening period of a home game since March 25, 2008, against the Vancouver Canucks … Oilers RW James Neal scored four goals on Tuesday night as the Oilers beat the New York Islanders 5-2. That gives the former Flames winger six goals in three games. Just a reminder, Neal had seven goals in 63 games with the Flames in 2018-19 … Flames G David Rittich faced 40 shots from the Kings while Campbell saw 29 Flames attempts.

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